During the Youth Mobile Festival Barcelona (YoMo)(February 27th - Mach 2nd), Andrés Gómez and Guillermo de Andrés from ICMAB used the 3Doodler 3D printing pens to teach the scientific method to those, young students and adults, approaching the ICMAB stand. The activity consisted in building a resistant bridge with the 3D printing pens.

“3D printing technology will be implemented in further educational programs as a way of expanding the creativity of students. The most advantage of 3D printing is that there are an infinite amount of possibilities for the future designers, engineers, scientists, architects… Almost every technological or scientific program can take advantage of the use of such tool.”

In fact, Toni Pou and Salva Ferré, fromeduscopi, have already brought the3D printing to high schools and conclude that it is an attractive technology, both for students and teachers, and that it can have many uses, especially in making some concepts and projects more attractive and understandable in the areas of science and technology.

ICMAB already has brought the 3D printing technology to the classrooms, through the educational course addressed to high school teachers for promoting STEM education. The course, which is designed to be completed in three days, includes a kit provided to teachers with a 3Doodler 3D printing pen, a 3D printed cubic, diamond and honeycomb structure, as well as a 3D printed AFM image and a 3D printed nano tubes.

On May 3rd, the Catalan Government created the Global 3D Printing Hub in Barcelona. The Hub, which will be hosted at the Campus Diagonal Besòs (in more than 10.000 m2), will receive 28 million until 2020. This public platform, which will be privately managed, is led by ACCIÓ and supported by many companies and technology and research centers, such as HP, Renishaw, Eurecat-Leitat, Fira de Barcelona and IBEC. One of the platforms aims is to enhance the R+D activities in this sector, and to be a meeting point of 3D printing providers and enterprises willing to use this technology.

The paper Direct and converse piezoelectric responses at the nanoscale from epitaxial BiFeO3 thin films grown by polymer assisted deposition published this October in the Nanoscale journal, has received funding...